Child development and growing up

Hand skills

Hand skills (also known as fine motor skills) are important for our day-to-day lives. As your child plays with their hands, they will develop their hand strength and dexterity. This will help them use tools like cutlery, pencils, and scissors.

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Hand-eye coordination is needed for lots of everyday activities. You need hand eye coordination for:
- - grasping
  - throwing
  - posting
  - drawing
  - ball sports
  - racket sports
  - climbing
You can help your child practice by:
- - throwing and catching a ball, start with a larger ball like a beach ball and move to smaller balls
  - drawing using pen and paper activities such as tracing, dot-to-dot drawings, mazes and copying
  - building with building blocks like wooden blocks or any other similar block toys
  - stacking empty and clean boxes, eggboxes and yogurt pots
  - emptying and filling plastic water bottles or washing up liquid bottles
You will need to supervise your child when they are playing with or using small objects. There is a risk of choking if they put them in their mouth.
Having reasonable hand strength is really important for things like:
- - Gripping
  - Squeezing
  - Opening containers
  - Using scissors
  - Playing with toys like a bat and ball
Hand strength can also help with managing activities that take a long time to complete.
You can help your child practice by:
- - using squeezy water squirting toys
  - playing with playdough
  - rolling dough
  - gardening
You will need to supervise your child when they are playing with or using small objects. There is a risk of choking if they put them in their mouth.
Moving a small object in 1 hand is also known as ‘in-hand manipulation’. This is important for:
- - fastening buttons
  - tying shoelaces
  - taking coins out of a purse
If your child is struggling to move things in 1 hand, they may use a table or the rest of their body to move objects in their hand. They may also use 2 hands instead of 1.
You can help your child practice by:
- - picking up a few small items (like buttons or coins) one at a time
  - playing with spinning tops
  - turning a cube or dice around to look at the different sides, you can add stickers to the sides
  - stacking empty and clean boxes, eggboxes and yogurt pots
You will need to supervise your child when they are playing with or using small objects such as buttons or coins. There is a risk of choking if they put them in their mouth.
Your child may begin by throwing away the object, this is sometimes referred to as ‘casting’. They may be doing this without looking.

As your child develops, they will become interested in where the objects land. They will start to learn to control where these objects go. This will support the development of their play skills and help them with other activities like feeding themselves.
You can help your child practice by:
- - playing with shape sorters
  - playing posting games
You will need to supervise your child when they are playing with or using small objects. There is a risk of choking if they put them in their mouth.
The pincer grip, also known as the pincher grip, is when you grab an object using your index finger and thumb. Your child may drop the first item picked up because of a lack of finger strength, this is a typical sign that this skill is still developing.

You can help your child practice by:
- - eating smaller foods like raisins, small cereals and crisps
  - doing arts and crafts such as stamps and sequins
  - using stickers with your child
Your child may pick up small objects or food by curling their fingers into the palm of their hand. This is known as a raking grip, it is the earlier version of a pincer grip.
You will need to supervise your child when they are playing with or using small objects. There is a risk of choking if they put them in their mouth.
Shoulder stability is also known as ‘shoulder girdle stability’. The shoulder girdle includes the ligaments and muscles around the collarbones and shoulder blades. It helps the shoulder joint move. Activities that use shoulder stability include:
- - throwing overhand
  - swimming
  - using pencils, pens, crayons and scissors
  - playing on climbing frames and monkey bars
  - building with building blocks like wooden blocks or any other similar block toys
You can help your child practice by:
- - swimming
  - playing on climbing frames and using monkey bars
  - playing on hands and knees
  - playing games that involve pulling and pushing
  - playing with water games
  - carrying containers and trays
  - stacking larger boxes
If you have a baby or infant, tummy time helps develop shoulder strength and stability.
Using both hands together is also known as ‘bilateral coordination’. This can be a difficult skill to learn as each hand has a different task to do. The types of activities that needs to use both hands together are:
- - using scissors or glue sticks
  - dressing themselves by doing up buttons, zips and shoelaces
  - holding a piece of paper as they write
You can help your child practice by:
- - playing hand clapping games and hi-fiving
  - tearing and sticking paper using glue sticks
  - pulling apart and pushing together building blocks, Velcro fruit and jigsaw puzzles
  - holding a book and turning individual pages, you may want to start with cloth or board books
  - gardening
  - rolling dough
  - holding an object and painting it
  - holding a container and scooping or stirring with a spoon such as mixing flour and sugar together in a bowl
You will need to supervise your child when they are playing with or using small objects. There is a risk of choking if they put them in their mouth.
Using one finger, also known as finger isolation, is an important skill. Your child will need it for:
- - pointing
  - pressing buttons
  - using touch screen technology
Your child will start by grabbing and pressing objects using their whole hand. They will move onto using just one finger for more accuracy.
You will need to supervise your child when they are playing with or using small objects. There is a risk of choking if they put them in their mouth.
Visual skills are also known as ‘visual perception’. This is how the brain interprets the information that the eyes can see. These skills involve:
- - focusing on important visual things and ignoring the things that aren’t important
  - finding the differences or similarities in objects
  - remembering what things looked like
  - remembering objects in the correct order
  - noticing objects are the same even if they are different in size or turned around
  - identifying a object or shape when part of the picture is missing
You can help your child practice by:
- - playing with puzzles
  - playing memory or matching games
  - completing dot-to-dot activities or mazes
  - drawing
  - playing spot-the-difference games
  - playing with shape sorters
You will need to supervise your child when they are playing with or using small objects. There is a risk of choking if they put them in their mouth.

Find other pages on Hand Skills

1-5 Years
5-11 Years

Child development and growing up

Getting ready to write

Making marks is foundation of being able to control a pencil, draw lines and shapes and then being able to draw. Mark making is considered part of ‘pre-writing’ which are the skills learned to enable children to hold pencils and pens and start to write letters and words.

adult woman and child writing ABCs on large paper

5-11 Years

Child development and growing up

Handwriting and typing

Learning to write by hand is still an essential skill. You will find information about learning to write letters, common issues with handwriting and handwriting programme. Keep an eye out for the tips and tricks to make handwriting fun for your child!

1-5 Years
5-11 Years

Child development and growing up

Scissor skills

Scissor skills are important for many school activities like arts and crafts. You can find advice on how to get started with teaching your child scissor skills and help them develop their skills and build confidence.

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough

Cambridgeshire

Peterborough

Hand skills

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Hand skills

Hand-eye coordination

Hand strength

Moving an object in 1 hand (in-hand manipulation)

Picking up and letting go (grasp and release)

Pincer grip development

Shoulder stability

Using both hands together

Using one finger (finger isolation)

Visual skills

Find other pages on Hand Skills

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